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Talk:Postage stamps
Major Edits 12/26-12/27/08 To help organize the page, I grouped the stamps by country and arranged the countries alphabetically. To those who might miss having the US stamps up front: my intention was to better reflect the international character of the "Sesame Street" and Muppets phenomena (I also note that the US was not the first country to feature Muppets on postage stamps--that honor belongs to the Netherlands.) Thus, instead of beginning with "United States stamps" and lumping together everything else as "International Stamps," the first grouping is now Belgium (at least for the moment, because I recently discovered Australia has something to offer as well.) I also added two Cayman Islands stamps that had previously been missing (Ernie 10 cents and Big Bird 30 cents; these look similar to two of the singles from the se-tenant sheetlet of 9, but the latter are all 20 cent stamps, and the former were issued as separate sheets of 50 identical stamps rather than as part of a pictorial "scene.") Finally, I added some more information about dates of issue and the formats in which the stamps were issued. More of the latter is to follow.— [[User:Tclark1428|Tom]] ([[User talk:Tclark1428|talk]]) 15:31, 27 December 2008 (UTC) :I added a section for Australia to accommodate the PPE (postage-paid envelope) issued by Australia Post for their 2008 line of Disney Muppets Christmas Cards.— [[User:Tclark1428|Tom]] ([[User talk:Tclark1428|talk]]) 03:27, 29 December 2008 (UTC) Cancellation and Illegal Stamps Two things which I thought of recently, after rekindling a long-dormant interest in stamp collecting: -According to official [http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008stamps/downloadcenter.htm USPS guidelines], a line should be drawn through the denomination of a US postage stamp image if it is reproduced anywhere near the actual size of the image. Apparently, people do sometimes use images of US postage stamps on envelopes and successfully fool the post office. Should this be done for the American stamp images that appear on this page? Also, I was recently reading about illegal stamp issues. The Universal Postal Union and its member nations frequently issue reports regarding unauthorized stamps issued in the name of their member nations. Western celebrities and familiar characters are often the most common images, to appeal to Western collectors. (These should not be confused with genuine depictions of Western characters and celebrities on stamps, most of which are comissioned by a New York company which is the official postal provider for over 70 nations, which is well-represented on this page.) I think these issues are rather intriguing, so I believe they should continue to be listed, either with a notice or on a seperate part of the page. However, since they would officially be considered bootleg merchandise, I could see why there could equally be a consensus to have them removed. As for which issues are unauthorized: I know for sure that the Kyrgystan stamp is, since a [http://www.askphil.org/d012.htm UPU bulletin] makes reference of illegal Kyrgyz stamps depicting Western celebrites, and also the stamp is not listed on [http://www.stamp.elcat.kg/english/99.html a listing of stamps] issued in Kyrgyzstan in 1999. The Tajikistan stamp may also be an illegal issue- I can only [http://www.askphil.org/d053.htm find reference] to an unauthorized series of stamps honoring the Queen Mother's 100th birthday, which is similar in theme to the Queen Elizabeth 50th Jubilee theme listed on this page (and both events occurred two years apart from each other). Whether these are two different types of stamps or one of the listings is in error- or whether the QE2 stamps are actually genuine- I am unsure. The Somaliland issue might also be considered illegal, since Somaliland is de facto independent, but not recognized as such by the UN, the UPU, or other international organizations (also, the text on the stamp doesn't really look professional). I (or someone else, if they have the time and/or resources) may have to look in a Scott or similar catalog to verify the Tajik stamp, and also to find Scott or similar catalog numbers for the various stamps, which I think would make an interesting addition. [[User:Mobo85|Mobo85]] 14:20, 14 September 2008 (UTC) :The Tajik stamp is indeed an illegal issue, as per [http://www.wnsstamps.ch the UPU's worldwide stamp catalog]. [[User:Mobo85|Mobo85]] 16:52, 14 September 2008 (UTC) ::I put your links in as references on the Article page, since I think we need to do more of this. Also, regarding the proper place for illegal stamp issues, I am in favor of creating a separated page that could be linked to under "Notes," since keeping these issues together with the legitimate stamps lends them undeserved legitimacy.-[[User:Tclark1428|Tclark1428]] 00:22, 22 September 2008 (UTC) :::Regarding calcellation of the USPS images, the images of Jim Henson and The Muppets appear undefaced in USPS Press Releases [http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2005/sr05_046.htm "Jim Henson, Muppets Get Stamp of Approval," ''USPS Stamp News Release Number 05-046'', Septempber 28, 2005], accessed September 22, 2008.[http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2004/sr04_076.htm "The 2005 Commemorative Stamps Appeal to Diverse Audiences and Wallets at Just 37 Cents," ''USPS Stamp News Release Number 05-076'', December 2, 2005], accessed Sepetember 22, 2008. about these stamps, so I think we're OK.— [[User:Tclark1428|Tom]] ([[User talk:Tclark1428|talk]]) 15:33, 22 September 2008 (UTC) :The USPS issues appear both cancelled and uncancelled in the USPS press notes- uncancelled when they are at a size much smaller than normal, and cancelled when close to regular size. As such, I've decided to "cancel" only the Big Bird and Henson stamps, as they're the only two US issues that are anywhere near their actual size (the images we have for the Muppet stamps are much smaller). [[User:Mobo85|Mobo85]] 01:20, 23 September 2008 (UTC) ::I don't think that you should cancel the images, since the concept of "size" is somewhat meaningless in digital images. The guidelines refer to "reproducing" images, not displaying them digitally. Anyone who wants to counterfeit these stamps just has to resize the digital images to the correct print size. Cancelling these images will just make them unneccessarily ugly. I do think, however, that we need the copyright notice mentioned in the guidelines.— [[User:Tclark1428]] ([[User talk:Tclark1428|talk]]) 01:46, 23 September 2008 (UTC) Mobo: I like what you did with the Article page, moving the unauthorized stamps to the bottom of the page.— [[User:Tclark1428]] ([[User talk:Tclark1428|talk]]) 01:49, 23 September 2008 (UTC) :Mobo: I spoke too soon... I don't think we've reached a concensus on the cacellation issue. Jim and Rowlf Does anyone know what this is from? It's another image I downloaded ages ago and forget where, why, etc. — [[User:Scarecroe|Scott]] ([[User talk:Scarecroe|talk]]) 04:24, 15 November 2006 (UTC) :It's already accounted for at [[Love Stamp]]. -- [[User:Aleal|Andrew Leal]] ([[User talk:Aleal|talk]]) 04:26, 15 November 2006 (UTC) ::Ah, yes. I see it now way down at the bottom of the chronological list. — [[User:Scarecroe|Scott]] ([[User talk:Scarecroe|talk]]) 04:38, 15 November 2006 (UTC) :::Where did that picture of Jim Henson and Rowlf originate? Is it an AP photo? A USPS photo? A Jim Henson Foundation photo? etc.-[[User:Tclark1428|Tclark1428]] 00:22, 22 September 2008 (UTC) Stamps There's already an article on [[Jim Henson and Muppets stamps]]... -- [[User:Toughpigs|Danny]] ([[User talk:Toughpigs|talk]]) 01:22, 8 October 2006 (UTC) :Oh, never mind. I see that you already know that. -- [[User:Toughpigs|Danny]] ([[User talk:Toughpigs|talk]]) 01:23, 8 October 2006 (UTC) And here I thought one had to be dead to appear on a US postage stamp! [[User:LtPowers|Powers]] 13:11, 14 October 2006 (UTC) : You're joking, right? -- [[User:Zanimum|Zanimum]] 20:57, 16 October 2006 (UTC) :: No; a real person does in fact have to be dead to appear on an official US postage stamp, with the notable recent exception of custom stamps. [[User:LtPowers|Powers]] 12:31, 17 October 2006 (UTC) Sources